Ministerial Meeting on Finance Precedes CARICOM Meeting in Belize

Belmopan, Feb 15 (Prensa Latina) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) today discussed financial issues in Belize and its ability to respond to banking problems, as a prelude to the opening of the 27th intersessional meeting.
The Ministerial Finance Committee will discuss the risks of the relations of banks in the area with foreigners and a possible loss of access to international institutions.

The block is concerned about the decision of many entities in the US and Europe to cease its monetary operations in the Caribbean claiming low confidence, which will have a negative effect on local economies and foreign investment.

The recommendations of the ministers will be included in the agenda to be discussed by the leaders of CARICOM tomorrow and Wednesday in the town of Placencia.

The financial event will precede the opening ceremony of the 27th intersessional meeting of the integrationist group.

At the ceremony tonight will participate the temporary leader of the block, Dean Barrow; General Secretary Irwin LaRocque, and Prime Minister of Barbados, Freundel Stuart, who led the organization until December.

In addition to the financial issue, the Caribbean will review the epidemiological situation, as Zika virus circulating in several islands and the regional Public Health Agency said that most of the territories in the area have high chances of registering infections.

This institution must submit the planned actions against a possible spread of the disease.

CARICOM will also define strategies to ensure that its members benefit from the final agreement of the recent United Nations Conference on Climate Change, which included some of the proposals presented by the group.

Another issue on the agenda will be the appointment of the new Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States, a position that should be taken by a representative of the block in the period 2016-2010.

CARICOM was founded on July 4, 1973 with the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas and its full members are Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia , Belize, Barbados,Granada, Guyana and Suriname.

Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and the islands Turks and Caicos are associated countries.